Papillon

Chapter 17: Crush

Bella

Why the fuck was I at NYU?

I got into my car after school just to watch Alana trail her hands over Francis by his car again. So, I blasted some music and then just drove to campus.

Suddenly though, I was thankful. I could use Robyn's honey-like voice in my life right about now. There was something about her–she could make you feel at home all the time, no matter what. She had a cute little two-bedroom apartment near campus because she insisted on staying there and not at home so she could live her life without Damon's overprotective older brother-ness smothering her college fun.

I understood that impulse dearly–Christian was the exact same. Only difference was that people didn't fuck with Damon because of his last name and his ties in the underworld. People didn't fuck with my brother because he had more money than most countries and could land a punch like nobody's business.

I never really counted myself as a girl who showed up at her best friend's apartment to talk about guy problems because honestly, I never cared about guys. They were easy enough to ignore. Moreover, I didn't like how forward a lot of them were. Attention was handed to me on a platter. But no, of course the one person who interested me–couldn't fucking care less if I lived or died and just wanted my body. Plus, the fact that he hadn't reached out to me in almost two weeks. Maybe that was what drew me to him. Why was I so intent on hurting myself?

As much as I used to try to stay away from Francis because he kind of intimidated me and he clearly didn't like me, there was one small problem: he intrigued me. He fascinated me. He was a puzzle I couldn't solve. And I solved everything.

Now that we were hooking up, I wanted to dissect everything out about him. I wanted to break him down and strip him to his bones. I wanted to figure out what made him so him. What were his secrets? Why did he love the dark? What made him wake up every morning? What did he think of before he went to sleep at night?

I wanted to know it all.

Parking in Robyn's parking lot, I made my way up to her front door. Right before I could knock, the door swung open and some dude walked out, completely filling the frame in a button down shirt and casual jeans. He was tall, buff, and a fucking wet dream even for little sixteen-year old me. Pursing my lips to keep from laughing, I raised an eyebrow. It was 6 PM and Robyn had a guy leaving her apartment already. Wow. College seemed like a blast.

"Bella?" She said, alarmed and dressed in a romantic little sundress I was going to steal from her. "What are you doing here?"

"I just wanted to say hi and talk to you," I smiled, tossing my hair over my shoulder. "But I can come back."

"No no, silly. Stay," Robyn said quickly, blowing some hair out of her face.

"I was just leaving," the dude said in a low voice, looking thoroughly amused. Bending down, he gave Robyn a quick kiss on the lips, and I turned my head to give them some privacy. "I'll see you later, beautiful."

She blushed all the way to her hairline and nodded. "Sounds good."

"Nice to meet you...?" He looked in my direction.

"Bella," I filled in, sticking out my hand. "Bella Ryder."

"Like... of the Ryders? Christian Ryder?" His eyes widened.

Robyn blanched promptly, biting her lip and looking at the floor.

"The very one," I nodded quickly, making my way into the door so this conversation didn't continue. It was clearly making Robyn uncomfortable. "So nice to meet you too, bye!"